Interesting
by Izzu
Summary: (Detective) Galileo. Perhaps it would be interesting, to see how their relationship will go from here.
1. First Morning

The moment she opened her eyes, she _knew_ that something was wrong. The ceiling, the bed, the very pillow she was resting, the blanket she was covered with—basically everything. The colours weren't quite right, the air... was slightly different. Even the lightings...

Utsumi turned her body around—and almost had a _heart seizure_! There was someone _else_ sleeping on the bed with her. And it was... Yukawa!

Utsumi's heart raced as she frantically tried to remember what happened the night before. She remembered Yukawa telling her to stay the night at his apartment, but she didn't remember coming over here. She only remembered having dinner with Yukawa and Kusanagi—Ah, she remembered falling asleep beside Yukawa last night at the cafe. Did Kusanagi help Yukawa to bring her here? She couldn't imagine Yukawa carrying her on his own, alongside her luggage and his own case. Wonder why didn't they try to wake her up? She turned her head towards the sleeping man beside her.

 _"Did you not try to wake me up last night because you didn't want to disturb my sleep? "_ , she smiled. " _You're such a sweet gentleman,"_

Utsumi glanced up the ceiling again.

 _So this was Yukawa's apartment.  
_

Utsumi sighed. "And this was how my first night passed by. So uneventful," she muttered to herself before turning to look at Yukawa's face again. _Regardless... I did end up sleeping beside you..._

She hastily shook her head to clear the image that started to form inside her mind. _Better not let our imaginations running too far yet._

Perhaps agreeing to stay over for the night was not so bad—even when she barely had any memory of coming here last night. Her initial shock of waking up on Yukawa's bed long gone... Utsumi decided to take in the _sights_ before her. It's been a while since she had the chance to see Yukawa's face like this. Sleeping, and not being his usual _cheek_. As always... there was a certain fascination about watching Yukawa asleep.

 _He probably won't even notice if I decided to kiss him now_ , Utsumi thought as she started to move closer to his face—Yukawa's eyes suddenly opened without warning, causing Utsumi to scream and jerked away hurriedly.

She ended up rolling away too fast and fell out of the bed.

"What're you doing?", she could hear Yukawa's voice inquiring as Utsumi let out a silent curse.

What a way to start her morning!


	2. Pervert

Utsumi gently pressed the ice pack to the side of her face as her eyes started following Yukawa's movements all around the apartment. He was _still_ wearing the same shirt he was sleeping in... and his shorts. Fancy how you could keep staring at him for hours and not get tired of what you see. If you think that staring at Yukawa's bare arms was distracting enough, just wait till you see his _long legs_...

"What're you doing... again?"

Utsumi felt herself blush before shaking her head. "Wha—n-nothing! What makes you think I was doing anything? And earlier, I was just... well, _nothing_. It's nothing!" she exclaimed hurriedly before turning her attention towards her luggage bag, trying to make herself busy. She opened her bag to take out a box of dino model before picking out some fresh change of clothes.

"Hmm... you _did_ get another T-Rex model for me..." Yukawa suddenly appeared beside her as Utsumi almost threw her underwear towards his face.

"Don't sneak behind me like that! That always makes me so jumpy!" she exclaimed, before grabbing her towel. "I'm taking a shower... y-you go back to your c-cooking..."

Yukawa suddenly smiled. "That reminds me... you used to call me a _pervert_ , didn't you? That time after I told you that I _do_ like girls. You also mentioned that word again... _yesterday_ ,"

Utsumi blushed again. "W-why are you a-asking me this again?" she stuttered as Yukawa crouched before her.

"I can't help recalling your words yesterday about being a _pervert_ yourself and confessing that you've had _perverted_ thoughts about me..." Yukawa drew his face closer to her as he put on his glasses on. "So is this your _perverted_ face? Now that I think about it, you _have_ been staring at me too, _earlier_. When you thought I was still sleeping."

Utsumi tightened her hold on her clothes before frantically scrambling to get on her feet. "I'm using your bathroom, excuse me—!" she said before dashing towards the bathroom. Yukawa caught her before she could hide herself, inside.

"Stop teasing me already, Yukawa!" she exclaimed as Yukawa pinned her against the wall, just beside the door to the bathroom.

"I thought you're curious too on how _perverted_ I can be. Want me to join you?"

Utsumi froze. Not sure if it's because she blushed too many times already to the point that all that heat started to make her dizzy; or because she started being aware of _another_ kind of heat welling in her. One that started pooling inside of her groin...

Yukawa leant closer to her face before smiled. "I was just teasing you. Don't look so terrified on me..." he started to say as Utsumi slapped him on his sides.

"It's because you've always sounded so serious, I can't tell if you're joking or not! Ah, Yukawa... please have mercy on me and cut it out with the jokes!"

"Mercy?" he drawled as his face drew closer again—"Stop! I haven't even brushed my teeth!", Utsumi exclaimed—before Yukawa settled on kissing her cheek.

He cocked his head towards the bathroom door as he stepped away from her. "Go on. I'll prepare breakfast in the mean time."

Utsumi ran inside faster than he could even blink.

xxx

"So..."

Utsumi glanced up towards Yukawa, as she was about to eat her bowl of rice. "What?" she asked, somewhat dejected.

"How was my _pervert_ face looked to you now today? Do I still look _perverted_ while cooking, or when I'm eating? Or was it while I'm still sleeping—"

Utsumi let out a long sigh. "Aww, stop it! Enough already with the pervert jokes!" she cried as Yukawa started laughing.


	3. Different

_"Come over to the lab once you settle with things on your end, I'll help you carry your things over,"_

Utsumi snorted to herself as she entered her apartment. Trust Yukawa to insist on things like that. She sighed as she looked around the room. As expected, after a year being empty... rooms had accumulated a lot of dust. The air was a bit musty, too. Well, at least _that_ was the only few things she had to worry about. Before she left, she emptied out her small fridge of any foodstuff that remained, so she wouldn't have to worry about throwing all the rotten food away later. Nothing has really changed.

Nothing has really changed here, besides the fact she officially has a boyfriend now. Wonder if that fact would actually change anything in her life, she pondered, before deciding that there wasn't anything else that she could do at the apartment...

She ended up meeting the landlady to arrange for a cleaner to clean the place up. Utsumi left, to check on her red Pajero.

xxx

Utsumi smiled, as she got into the driver's seat. She hasn't been on the wheel ever since she left to Oklahoma; so being able to drive her old car around felt refreshing. The car only needed a bit of tune-up and a change of oil and it was good to go. It's a bit troublesome to have to depend on others or public transport to travel, she'd rather be driving on her own. The familiar sceneries all around her cheered her a lot. It finally feels like she's home.

 _I missed Tokyo so much!_

xxx

"Good afternoon! Good to see you again..."

Utsumi smiled as she walked into the building of Kaizuka PD station. It was nice... seeing again old faces and them _actually_ being delighted to see her again. Interesting, considering some of them used to not like her much; especially whenever she ended up cracking the cases that they couldn't solve. Those officers tend to have a lot of pride—and seeing them welcoming her so happily now felt so surreal.

It was indeed quite different.

"Utsumi-san!" she thought she heard, as sounds of footsteps started to come towards her...

She turned around to see Kishitani running up to greet her happily.

"You looked quite cheerful today, Kishitani-san!" Utsumi commented as the younger girl kept grinning ear-to-ear.

"Yes! We managed to get our suspect indicted today, I'm so happy! Things going so smooth today, and Yukawa-sensei's not causing too much problem—"

Utsumi frowned. "Yukawa?', she asked suddenly as Kishitani hastily covered her mouth. Could it be... that yesterday Kishitani had indeed come to see Yukawa to consult on a case?

Kishitani laughed nervously. "It's not really much... but we only managed to capture the suspect recently. Yukawa-sensei's statement helped to get the suspect to confess... so the case is closed. Thank you! The professor's so cooperative this morning!" the girl exclaimed before skipping off towards the other corridor.

Utsumi cocked her head to one side. "Thank... _me_? What for?"

Few more officers started coming out from one of the nearby investigation rooms as she stepped aside to allow them to pass. Chief Mamiya walked out and called for her the moment he saw her.

"Ah, Utsumi-kun. Just in time... come over here for a minute," ushered the old man as Utsumi quickly ran over towards him.

xxx

"You wouldn't mind this arrangement, would you? You'll still be getting that promotion, don't worry—just that you would be staying at this branch..."

Utsumi nodded her head at the chief, cautiously... despite feeling that something was off. Now that she thought of it, ever since her arrival to the station earlier... _everyone_ had been acting especially _nice_ to her. Even the ones that she _knew_ had used to dislike her openly before.

As if, they didn't want to give her any reason that could make her want to leave Kaizuka...

"After all—" Chief Mamiya continued, "—you're _very_ skilled at solving those mysterious cases, right? Not only you could solve those seemingly impossible cases, but you could also take charge over the usual domestic criminal cases here. Not to mention your skills should have improved even more after a year in Oklahoma—"

Utsumi laughed uncomfortably. "What're you talking about, Chief? Those cases in Oklahoma—well, most of it wasn't _really_ that interesting, and there was a few of those serial cases and mistaken identity cases; I mean, there were people there actually believed things like aliens and ufos and vengeful ghosts! When half of them were actually just drunk drivers crashing onto a barn or cattle running wild or some other things." She shrugged. "I'm not really that great... and weren't Ohtagawa and Kishitani already assigned to handle those kinds of cases? I didn't want to _impose_ on them or anything..."

"No... it's not really a problem, honestly! In fact, both of them would be assigned as your subordinates. How about it? To be frank, if Kusanagi was still around, he would have got that position you're getting right now." The chief made a motion to appear a bit disappointed to her, "Alas, as you've already known... the main office had a firm grip on him right now. You wouldn't _want_ to go to the main office... would you?"

 _Finally, we see the heart of the conspiracy! The true motivation!_

Utsumi nodded sagely.

"I understand, Chief. I'll do my best to live up to your expectations. I'll excuse myself for now..." she started to say before moving to leave.

"Oh wait, Utsumi!"

Utsumi felt herself becoming tensed before turning around, smiling politely. "Yes?"

Chief Mamiya gathered his folders from the desk before glancing back at her. "You still had a few more days on your paid leave, right? You should just enjoy the rest of your vacation without worry for now. You don't have to rush to work so soon... also, send my _regards_ to Professor Yukawa for me, can you?"

Utsumi stared at the old man blankly before nodding, "Y-yes... thank you, sir..." she said before excusing herself.

It was not until the moment she reached her car that everything started to dawn on her. On why everyone was especially nice to her today, on why Kishitani thanked her suddenly... or how the Chief tried so hard to sell her on that particular position that she ended up accepting...

"Aaaah—!" Utsumi cried out before accidently pressing her car horn aloud.

 _"...send my regards to Professor Yukawa for me..."_

Utsumi felt a cold dread running up her neck. Despite the fact she hasn't turned the car air-con too high, "Did EVERYONE found out that I'm officially dating Yukawa now? Dammit!"

* * *

A/N: In a way, sorta taking a leaf from the novels. Since in the novel, Kusanagi still worked at Kaizuka. And considering for the drama, most of the plot in earlier novels that was original for Kusanagi being relegated to Utsumi in drama as well and Utsumi's parts being transferred to Misa... I decided to putting Utsumi in a similar position as Kusanagi in novel. It'll be too predictable anyway if Utsumi ended up being transfered to main office anyway.


	4. Distraction

She cautiously took a seat on the back so that she wouldn't disturb the lecture. And surprised herself to see the amount of girls attending the lecture still remaining the same. Without thinking, Utsumi let out a sigh of relief. After _yesterday_ , she couldn't help feeling nervous. Who knows if any of these students happened to see... what they did yesterday. Knowing that Yukawa tended to have plenty of fans wherever he went, things might get pretty ugly.

Yukawa continued his lecture, seemingly _unaware_ of her having entered the hall. The lecture was still on the topic of electromagnetism, one of the topics that used to baffle her. But after years of having visited Yukawa during his lectures as well as those 'extra' laboratory lessons and experimentations that occasionally coincide with both _her cases_ as well as _his lab sessions_ ; she had to say that she managed to absorb a lot of the physics knowledge. She might be a bit slow on the uptake with regards to science subjects, but after years and years of repeated exposures to the lectures; have to say she learned a lot. Somehow now, she started to feel _proud_ of that fact.

Yukawa suddenly paused, as he seemed to have noticed her amongst his sea of students. He flashed her a smile before resuming lecture. In which some of his students mistook that as him smiling at _them_ and reacted excitedly. Unlike yesterday, he managed to remain calm and resumed talking as if nothing happened between them during his short pause.

Utsumi laughed nervously. Even when they used to do this many times before, it felt strange now. In light of what happened yesterday. Not sure she could ever get used to this.

xxx

"Are you making it a habit now... sneaking into my lectures without warning?"

" _You're_ the one who told me to come. And I can't enter your apartment by myself to get my things. And it's not as if I haven't done it before..." she pouted before glancing at him. "Also, aren't you forgetting... I'm still on vacation?"

"I'm aware of that. But I assumed that you'll be waiting for me at the lab. You coming to the lectures... I have to say it's—"

"What?" she turned to look at him. Yukawa shrugged.

"Mildly _distracting_ ," he answered as Utsumi snorted. He turned towards her. "How about things on your side? I assumed you had things to tend to?"

She shrugged. "I had my car serviced, I didn't realise how much I missed taking her on a drive—" Utsumi flashed her a curious look, "—you're saying that every time I come to your lectures, it was _distracting_ to you?"

Yukawa sighed. "Not much before, regardless whether it was only you or Kusanagi doing that. Even then, it's usually related to some complicated case so eventually, I manage to get used to those kinds of distractions." He paused as if trying to gather his thoughts. "But the _distraction_ today... was a bit more _distracting_ than usual,"

Utsumi tried to sneak a glance towards him as Yukawa tried to avoid her eyes. She grinned before looking away, suddenly feeling conscious of herself.

"Oh, really?" she started to say before glancing warily towards some of the female students passing by. "I was a bit worried if any of your students noticed anything about—err, _yesterday_. You're quite popular here after all. Somehow I wonder if I should try to reduce the frequency of me visiting here..."

"Why? It never bothered you before this..."

Utsumi gave him a side glance. _As if you don't know!_ She shook her head, trying to not let him get to her. "I guess because this place also started to become _mildly distracting_ to me too."

That made him turn to face her. "Oh?" She could have sworn the sides of his mouth had twitched a bit higher. "Are you planning to come here much more _frequently_ than before?"

Utsumi looked away as she tried to will the heat that started to rise to her cheeks to disappear. "I-I-I didn't say that! D-did you think I h-have so much free time? I also have my own job, you know?" She glanced back at him. "Are you done for today?"

Yukawa gave her a look before glancing towards his wristwatch. "Yes, it should be. Just let get some things I left at the lab. There were some papers that I needed to take home."

Utsumi nodded as she started to head towards the direction of the faculty building. Without warning, Yukawa grabbed her hand and wrapped her arm around his own.

"Yukawa-sen—what're you doing?" Utsumi exclaimed as she suddenly felt aware of eyes watching them. "People are looking!" she hissed.

Yukawa grinned. "Let them. Perhaps they also needed some _distraction_. I'm already fine with my own _distraction_ right here..." he said before casually dragging Utsumi towards the old building in front of them.


End file.
